Costs and Benefits of Community vs. Individual End-Use for Solar Water Heating

This project will assess factors affecting the scale of solar water heating (SWH) installations, such as system cost, performance, and reliability and scale. Such factors impact whether a project is undertaken at the individual or community level. The project team will consider different SWH technologies, installation types and financing mechanisms and develop a model to address questions on investing in solar water heating and how investments can be focused to maximize uptake of SWH. The team aims to quantify state-level energy and emissions impacts of the reduction in natural gas usage from solar water heating installations.